Tenessee Food Tax

The state House has unanimously approved Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to cut the state's sales tax on groceries.

If approved by the Senate, the state's tax on groceries would drop by a quarter percentage point to 5 percent. Lawmakers last year enacted a cut of the same amount. The state's sales tax on non-food items is 7 percent.

A proposal to make lowering the Tennessee state sales tax on groceries contingent on whether there's a surplus in revenue has failed. The measure failed to get a majority vote in the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday.

Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Haslam is proposing a greater reduction in the states' sales tax on groceries as part of his final amendment to his annual spending plan. Haslam says he’s included an additional $3.3 million dollars in the budget proposal to drop the state sales tax on groceries from 5.5 percent to 5.25 percent.